In order to operate on a wireless network, a wireless device (which can include, but is not limited to a wireless phone) generally must be a subscriber on the network, neglecting for cases in which a wireless devices operates in a roaming mode on a foreign network. To identify the device to the network as a subscriber, a wireless provider generally undertakes a practice referred to herein as “activation,” in which the phone is identified to the network using an identifier (such as an international mobile subscriber identifier (“IMSI”) or similar identifying number, which, in many cases, is encoded on a subscriber identity module “SIM”in the wireless device). In a general sense, this process involves creating, in a home location register (“HLR”), a record for the device; in some cases, the record comprises the identifying number, as well as an addressing number (e.g., a phone number for a wireless phone), such as an international ISDN number (“MSISDN”) or similar number. This record identifies the device to the network and provides information about the capabilities of the device. Without such a record in an HLR, the device generally will be inoperable on the wireless network.
Hence, when a user purchases a new wireless device, the user's wireless provider generally must activate the device before the user can use the device on the provider's network. There are, in general, three different ways in which a wireless device can be activated.
In the first case, the wireless device is preactivated prior to sale of the device to the user. This process is used most frequently for prepaid wireless phones. Under a preactivation scheme, the device has installed therein a SIM that is assigned an activated IMSI before the device ever is sold. This technique, while technically feasible, has several downsides. First, because the IMSI is assigned and activated before the device is sold, there is enhanced risk of theft and other supply-chain “leakage.” Second, this technique requires substantial investment in allocating and activating IMSIs early in the supply chain, resulting in inefficiencies (for example, maintain a relatively large stock of activated IMSIs corresponding to devices that may not be sold or used for some time). Moreover, if the supply chain involves rebranding the devices, some of the allocated and activated IMSIs might never be used. Moreover, preactivation of a SIM generally requires the assignment of an MSISDN to the SIM (by associating the MSISDN with the IMSI assigned to the SIM). Given that IMSIs (and, especially, MSISDNs) can be relatively scarce resources, this solution is less than optimal.
In the second case, the wireless device is activated at the point of sale. While this technique is suitable for applications in which the device is sold at a relatively sophisticated reseller or agent of the wireless provider, it is unavailable in many cases (including, for example, in the case of prepaid phones or phones that are purchased at locations other than dedicated resellers).
The third option is to sell a wireless device in an unactivated state and require the user to activate the phone before using it. Because, as noted above, the device is inoperable on the network until activation, the device itself cannot be used as the activation vehicle. Hence, the user will have to call the provider (using a different phone), visit the provider's website (using a separate computer or some other device), and/or the like. This option, while sometimes the only available option, is less than desirable because it imposes an inconvenience on the user, resulting in a competitive disadvantage for the provider in relation to techniques that do not impose this inconvenience on the user.
Moreover, existing techniques for activating wireless devices offer the user limited (if any) input into the phone number (e.g., MSISDN) that the device will be assigned.
Accordingly, there is a need for more robust techniques for activating wireless devices on wireless networks.